Schlumbergera truncata(Haw.) Moran

false Christmas cactus

WFO wfo-0000439199 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Schlumbergera truncata, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. a Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-03-20 / obs. 117672899
Schlumbergera truncata, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. b Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117673080
Schlumbergera truncata, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. c Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117673172
Schlumbergera truncata, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. d Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117673280
Schlumbergera truncata, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. e Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117673181
Schlumbergera truncata, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. f Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 115640556
Schlumbergera truncata, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. g Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117673067
Schlumbergera truncata, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. h Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117673039

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 1 botanical country

Regions where Schlumbergera truncata is native: Brazil Southeast Brazil Southeast
Native distribution of Schlumbergera truncata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Brazil Southeast BZL SOUTHERN AMERICA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 28 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cactus truncatus (Haw.) Link
  • Cereus truncatus (Haw.) Sweet
  • Epiphyllum altensteinii Pfeiff.
  • Epiphyllum bridgesii Lem.
  • Epiphyllum delicatum N.E.Br.
  • Epiphyllum elegans Cels ex C.F.Först.
  • Epiphyllum guedneyrii Houllet
  • Epiphyllum purpurascens Lem.
  • Epiphyllum ruckeri Paxton
  • Epiphyllum ruckerianum Lem.
  • Epiphyllum salmoneum Cels ex K.Schum.
  • Epiphyllum smithianum Marnock
  • Epiphyllum truncatum Haw.
  • Epiphyllum truncatum var. altensteinii (Pfeiff.) Lem.
  • Epiphyllum truncatum var. bridgesii (Lem.) Rümpler
  • Epiphyllum truncatum var. cruentum T.Br.
  • Epiphyllum truncatum var. magnificum T.Br.
  • Epiphyllum truncatum var. spectabile T.Br.
  • Epiphyllum truncatum var. wagneri Rol.-Goss. ex Guillaumin
  • Epiphyllum violaceum Cels ex C.F.Först.
  • Schlumbergera bridgesii (Lem.) Loefgr.
  • Schlumbergera truncata var. altensteinii (Pfeiff.) Moran
  • Schlumbergera truncata var. delicata (N.E.Br.) Moran
  • Zygocactus altensteinii (Pfeiff.) K.Schum.

and 4 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.